Ear elevating and trash ejecting means for corn pickers



Dec. 3, 1940. POWELL 2,223,704

EAR ELEVATING AND TRA SH EJECTING MEANS FOR CORN PICKERS Filed Jan. 5, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet l Jbhw Powell,

J. POWELL 2,223,704

EAR ELEVATING AND TRASH EJECTING MEANS FOR CORN PICKERS I Dec. 3, 1940.

Filed Jan. 5, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 jwuc wfo'b @5724 Powell,

Patented Dec. 3, 1946 UNITED STATES EAR ELEVATING AND TRASH EJECTING MEANS FOR CORN PICKERS John Powell, Kokomo, Ind. Application January 5, 1939, Serial No. 249,533

Claims.

This invention relates to corn pickers, and more particularly to. novel means for handling and ejecting the trash which usually consists of broken portions of stalks, leaves, and other material.

In the operation of mechanical corn pickers, when the ears are snapped from the standing stalks, pieces of the stalks, leaves, and even parts of stalks having ears thereon are thrown into the pit at the bottom of the mainconveyor or car elevator. Due, to the angle of elevation or pitch of the main conveyor in machines now in general use, this so-called trash after first being lifted out of the pit falls back and accumulates or builds up to the point where the snapped ears as well as trash overflow the pit and spill out to clog or jam the snapping rolls. When this occurs, the rolls must be cleared for further eilicient operation, and it has frequently happened that the operator of the machine, in an effort to clear the operating snapping rolls, has had his hand, arm, or other portion of the body subjected to serious injury due to being pulled into the snapping rolls. Moreover, so much of the so-called trash, and evenears which may be still attached to a piece of stalk, as are lifted by the elevating means are fed to the husking mechanism which, of course, is undesirable, inasmuch as the presence of leaves or the portions of the stalk on the ear seriously interferes with the proper husking operation.

Accordingly, the present invention has primarily in view the provision of means for not only picking up and holding or trapping all of the material supplied to the ear elevator by the snapping rolls so that it cannot work out as the ear elevator makes its upward flight, thereby preventing the material from falling back toward the pit and onto the snapping rolls, thus avoiding jamming or fouling of the snapping rolls,

while, at the same time, as the material is discharged from the top of the elevator it is passed toward and gripped by a set of trash rolls which may also function as a second set of snapping rolls in the sense that ears of corn which may be still attached to any portion of the stalk are snapped from the stalk and thus dropped down into the chute or incline which leads to the husking apparatus. The trash pulled through the trash rolls is thrown to waste, that is, discharged from the machine without going into the husking unit. The invention, therefore, has in view! the two-fold purpose of preventing the jamming or stoppage of the snapping rolls during the normal operation of the machine in the field, while at the same time effectively carrying away and disposing of the trash so that the husking unit can operate freely on the ears of corn to remove the husks. In other words, the 5 construction about to be described materially increases the efficiency of both the snapping means as well as the husking unit by definitely taking care of the trash in such a way that it does not enter into or interfere with the operation of either of these instrumentalities. 10

With the above and other objects in view which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully de- 15 'scribed, illustrated and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a corn picker 20 embodying the present improvements.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

The corn picking machine identified generally as A is intended to be more or less conventional, 25 and is used by way of illustration to show the application of the invention.

Machines of this type, as is well known, are drawn through the field of standing corn and the ears of corn are picked from the stalks by means 30 of one or more sets of snapping rolls, depending on the type of the machine, said rolls being designated generally as S. These rolls are of the conventional corn picker type, arranged in pairs, with the outer roll of each pair at a 35 slightly higher elevation than the inner roll so that when the stalk of corn is engaged by the arms of the gathering chains and pressed against the rolls, the ears will be snapped or picked from the stalk and thrown or permitted to fall on a 40 main conveyor or ear elevator B whose lower end operates in a pit or receptacle P having a front wall P.

The main conveyor B comprises an endless web or belt having transversely disposed elevat- 45 ing bars or fins B and carried by the opposite chain elements B which are cradled in the angle member guides B The said conveyor including the web and chains is mounted on one or more rollers C, C and C journaled in the opposite 50 side walls C of the machine and its top or upper flight is preferably guided by the horizontal flanges of the angle iron abutments D whose vertical flanges are secured to the side walls of the angles B which slidably receive and guide 5 the side chains of the conveyor. The bottom or rear flight of the conveyor may be tensioned by the idler roll D also journaled in the opposite side walls C As shown in Figure 2 the forward flight of the I ear elevator has its lower portion disposed at a lesser angle than its upper portion, the steeper angle of inclination of the said upper portion being due to the necessity for conserving space and properly positioning the same in relation to the husking unit (H) and other instrumentalities. The lower end of the main elevator is disposed in the pit and lifts or carries the ears ejecting rolls forming a part of the present invention as will presently appear.

As previously indicated, a distinctive feature of the invention resides in providing means for positively removing the trash from the pit, and to that end is proposed to employ, in combination, with the snapping rolls S, pit P and main conveyor B, a so-called trash conveyor designated generally as I0. This conveyor is preferably in the form of an endless belt mounted on the relatively floating lower roll H and the upper roll I2. The roll I2 is mounted on a shaft I3 journaled in the upper part of the side walls C of the machine and the roll II has its shaft ends journaled in the spaced frame bars lb which are connected by the transverse braces lllc, said frame bars and braces constituting the frame of the conveyor. These frame bars are thus rockab-ly or pivotally supported on the shaft I3 of the upper roll l2, so that the trash COl'l-r veyor l0 overlies and over-rides or floats on the forward and upwardly moving flight of the main conveyor or ear elevator B. The shaft l3 of the upper roll is provided with a sprocket wheel 14 (at the right looking at Fig. 1) which receives a sprocket chain l5 connected with a sprocket l6 carried by the shaft 16a of the upper roll I! of a trash roll unit designated generally as R; The lower roll l8 of said unit engages the periphery of the upper trash roll, and both rolls are located in receiving relation to the upper ends of both the trash conveyor l0 and the main conveyor B. The shaft I6a. of the upper roll I! which carries the sprocket I6 is also provided inwardly of the sprocket, with a gear ll' meshing with gear I8 on the shaft l8a. of lower roll l8. At the other side of the machine (at the left looking at Fig. 1) the shaft I811 of the lower roll I8 is provided with a sprocket l9 which is engaged by the sprocket chain F previously referred to as driven by the sprocket E and operated by the main drive shaft G. It will thus be apparent that the trash conveyor 10 is operated through sprocket 19, roll I8, gear I1, gear I8, and the chain and sprocket means l4--|5--|6, simultaneously and synchronously with the main conveyor or ear elevator B, and, it will also be apparent that the trash rolls R are operated or driven by the same means which operates the main conveyor.

The web of the trash conveyor l0 may be made of any suitable material, and may be provided with spaced transverse strips Illa or the like, for assisting in gripping the trash carried by the main elevator.

In operation, the ears of corn picked from the stalks as well as the so-called trash are thrown by the snapping rolls into the space or pit at the bottom of the main elevator. Since the main elevator is moving continuously while the snapping rolls are in operation, the ears of com as well as the trash will be picked up by the main elevator and passed beneath the overlying or over-riding trash conveyor I0 which not only covers the upper portion of the forward flight of the main conveyor, but also holds or clamps all of the material carried by the main elevator thereto, or therein, in such a way that none of it can spill, fall, or be driven back into the pit, thereby preventing undesirable accumulation of material in the pit which will cause picked ears of corn or trash to fall back and clog the snapping rolls. As the main elevator reaches its upward limit and passes over the roller C the ears of corn which have been cleanly plucked from the stalk are delivered to the chute or inl clined surface which leads to the husking unit H. On the other hand, the trash lifted by the main conveyor is passed over to the trash rolls R with the assistance of the deflector wall .lOd where it is gripped and carried to waste through the chute or trough 20. In the event that any of the plucked ears are still connected with portions of stalks, the rolls of the trash ejecting unit R, will function as a second set of snapping rolls and pull the fragment of stalk from the ear and thus permit the ear to fall down int the husking unit.

In practice, the rolls of the trash unit R are spaced only three or four inches from the fins or bars of the main conveyor B so that the space or throat between the trash rolls and the upper end of the main conveyor is relatively slight, that is, only sufiicient to permit the ears of corn to fall through while the trash is picked up and gripped by the trash rolls and carried or passed to waste. Since the trash conveyor i0 is hingedly or pivotally mounted on the shaft l3-it will be apparent that it overlies or rests on the main conveyor by gravity, and because its lower flight is running in the same direction as the forward flight of the main conveyor, all the material trapped between the bars or fins of the main conveyor will be effectively held in position until the upper end of the main conveyor is reached. From the foregoing it will be apparent that the present invention provides practical and efficient means for picking up and carrying all the material from the lower end of the main conveyor in the zone of the pit or hopper so that there is no opportunity for the material fed into the pit to unduly accumulate and overflow into the snapping rolls, "thus keeping them free and clear of obstruction so that they can efficiently operate. Under these conditions there is no necessity for the operator of the machine subjecting himself to possible injury while at the same time due to the positively driven trash rolls l1 and I8 the trash is quickly and efl'iciently removed from the machine and cannot enter the husking unit.

I claim:

1. A com husking machine having frame and wall portions forming a pit and including a husking unit, snapping rolls at the sides of the pit, an ear elevator having its lower end operating in said pit, means cooperating with the ear elevator for lifting andconveying ears of corn wall portions forming 2,228,704 and trash from the pit at the lower end of the elevator, and means for removing the trash from the upper end of said elevator and conveyor.

2. A com husking machine having frame and wall portions forming a pit and including a husking unit, snapping rolls at the sides of the pit, an endless ear elevator for lifting ears and trash toward the husking unit, a trash conveyor overlying the upwardly traveling flight of said endless ear conveyor, and a pair of trash ejecting rolls in receiving relation to the upper end of the ear elevator and "trash conveyor for conveying trash away from the husking unit.

3. A corn husking machine having frame and wall portions forming a pit and including a husking unit, snapping rolls at the sides of the pit, an endless ear elevator for the husking unit, a trash conveyor comprising an endless web operating over upper and lower rolls to provide top and bottom flights, the bottom flight of said conveyor overlying the upper portion of the upwardly traveling flight of the said ear elevator, and means for operating the ear elevator and said trash conveyor, whereby the upwardly traveling flight oi the ear elevator and the bottom flight of the trash conveyor move in the same direction.

4. A com husking chine having frame and pit and including a husking unit, snapping ro is at the sides of the pit,

an endless ear elevator leading from the pit to the husking unit and including upwardly and downwardly traveling flights, a trash conveyor comprising an endless web passing over upper and lower rolls to provide top and bottom flights, the bottom flight of said trash conveyor overlying the upper portion of the upwardly traveling flight of the ear elevator, a pair of trash ejecting rolls mounted in receiving relation to the upper end of the main elevator and said trash conveyor, and means for synchronously operating the ear elevator, trash conveyor and trash rolls.

5. A com husking machine having frame and wall portions forming a pit and including a husk ing unit, snapping rolls located at the sides 01 the pit, an endless ear elevator for the husking unit, and including upper and lower flights, said elevator having its lower end disposed to receive material from the pit, a trash conveyor overlying the upper portion of the upper flight of the ear elevator, and a pair of trash ejecting rolls having oppositely rotating peripheral portions in receiving relation to the upper end of the ear elevator and the trash conveyor, the said periph. eral portions of the trash receiving rolls serving to grip and remove husk or stalk portions from ears of corn supplied thereto by the ear elevator.

JOHN POWELL. 3o 

